New York's Green CHIPS incentives are the nation's most ambitious semiconductor industry attraction program
By passing Green CHIPS, New York has shown that we are ready to do our part to address the national semiconductor chip shortage, and that we can balance economic opportunity with environmental sustainability.
With up to $10 billion in economic incentives for environmentally friendly “Green CHIPS” semiconductor manufacturing and supply chain projects—alongside a host of shovel-ready sites, cutting-edge R&D infrastructure and a talented workforce—New York State offers the semiconductor industry the nation’s most compelling advantages for doing business here.
New York State is leading by offering a State-level, companion incentive to the forthcoming federal CHIPS incentives. The recently passed Green CHIPS legislation will reduce the cost of constructing and operating chip fabs. This new transformative program will help attract thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to cement New York as the nation’s leader in the domestic reshoring of semiconductor manufacturing—all while helping address supply chain shortages, inflation and national security.
America’s Microchip Resurgence Runs Through New York
The state is already uniquely positioned to capture a significant share of the federal CHIPS funding, and thousands of related jobs. We have:
- The nation’s leading inventory of semiconductor industry shovel-ready sites – including Luther Forest in the Capital District, Marcy Nanocenter in Mohawk Valley, White Pine in Central New York, and Western NY STAMP in the Finger Lakes
- The nation’s most advanced public semiconductor R&D facilities at the Albany NanoTech complex, a leading candidate to secure the National Semiconductor Technology Center to be awarded under federal CHIPS
- A robust semiconductor industry supply chain and experienced workforce, thanks to companies like IBM, GlobalFoundries, onsemi and Wolfspeed
The Green CHIPS Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit Program
Green CHIPS projects that meet certain eligibility conditions and achieve their promised job and investment commitments will be eligible for significant levels of fully refundable tax credits under Empire State Development’s Excelsior Jobs Program, a pay-for-performance program in which companies receive tax credits as they meet annual job and investment commitments.
To qualify as a Green CHIPS project, a company must:
- Create at least 500 net new jobs and make at least $3 billion in investment per each 10-year project term, with eligibility for up to 20 years of project incentives
- Adopt sustainability measures to mitigate the project’s greenhouse gas emissions
- Pay federal prevailing wage rates for project construction, and
- Commit to worker and community investments, including through training and education programs to expand employment opportunity for economically disadvantaged individuals
- Green CHIPs projects must complete Community and Sustainability plans in order to be eligible for the credit. ESD has drafted templates for these plans.
The proposed regulations referenced above amend the current Excelsior Jobs program regulations to allow for Green CHIPS projects’ participation in the program. If you wish to comment on these regulations, please email your comments to Thomas Regan, Associate Counsel at [email protected] by Monday, December 19, 2022 at 5PM.
In addition to the proposed regulations, ESD also seeks industry comment on the proposed Green CHIPS Sustainability and Community Plan templates referenced above. Please email your comments to Thomas Regan, Associate Counsel at [email protected].
Economic Incentives Available to Green CHIPS Projects
- Investment Tax Credit: Up to 5% of project capital expenditures
- R&D Tax Credit: Up to 8% of R&D expenditures
- Salaries and Wages Tax Credit: Up to 7.5% of salaries and wages expenditures (only applies to first $200,000 of salaries and wages per net new job, to be adjusted for inflation by 4%+)
- Real Property Taxes/PILOTs Tax Credit: Eligible for schedule of credits based on amount of real property taxes/PILOT paid (50%, 45%...5%) over 10 years (only applies to one 10-year term)
- Discounted Utility Service Delivery Rates: Discounted utility service delivery rates conveyed via private utility